Day Off
by IndySolo221
Summary: After alternate realities, time travel, and the defeat of the Goa'uld System Lords, it's time for SG-1 to take a break. But will they survive? (I'm currently editing this story in the hopes of making it better. Enjoy!)
1. Popcorn

Tears. So many tears and so little time. All of the team cried tears so often, the General thought. Maybe they need a break, he said to himself.

"General, you called?" George Hammond lifted his head to see Jack standing in front of him, looking worn out and slightly irritated.

"Yes, Colonel, I did. SG-1 has been through hell lately and I think its high time they had a vacation. I'm giving you all a week of leave time."

The Colonel's irritability slowly wore off, and he nodded thankfully to Hammond. "Thanks General. I'm gonna warn you though, Carter isn't going to take this lightly." Hammond waited until Jack left to release a chuckle. Major Carter was all work and no play, and the General knew exactly where she got it from. He remembered her anger at being told she needed a break, the way she set her jaw and her eyes lit with fury. It frustrated her deeply not to have something to work on. Oh well, he thought. She'll have the rest of SG-1 to keep her company this time.

Daniel sat, reading a book on mythology, pondering what he'd already read carefully. He was a bookworm, and when it came to books in a different dialect, he was just as eager to learn. His whole office was filled with books, some he'd read once; most he had read a million times. But Daniel was growing tired, and beginning to doze, when Jack walked in.

"Hey Daniel, General Hammond says its time for SG-1 to take some good ole' vacation time. Wanna go to the new bowling alley tomorrow night?"

"Sure. Is the rest of the team coming?"

"Yeah, and Carter was going to ask Janet and Cas if they wanted to come along." Daniel smiled. That's nice of her, he thought. He enjoyed being with Cassandra, and he knew she'd enjoy going bowling with the team. Even after a few years, the girl still believed SG-1 could do anything. And he owed Janet his life. On more then one occasion she had saved his life, and only once, when he had been exposed to radioactive poisoning, was she unable to save him. Yep, Cassie and Janet were great friends. Jack's voice broke Daniel's thoughts.

"Oh, by the way, Carter's invited the team to come to her house afterwards. She said something about a movie and some popcorn."

"She didn't pick another horror movie did she? I mean, I felt bad about the whole popcorn thing..."

Jack rolled his eyes. "Well, if she did, I'll hold the popcorn."

 **Hope you guys like the first chapter! I wanted to write a short story of SG-1 taking a break and enjoying each others company. Feel free to comment or criticize. EDIT: Hey, I'm editing this story! It's been a while since I wrote anything Stargate related, so I'm going through some old stories and working on some much-needed editing. Enjoy! EDITING MY EDIT: This is an older work of mine, which features a few chapters on what SG-1 does when they finally get a day off! I'm finally getting a chance to do more edits, so updates maybe slow. I still hope you guys enjoy this story just as much as you do my others!**


	2. Excuses

Jack was walking towards Carter's lab, when his thoughts were broken by her words. "Wait, if-"

She stopped her sentence to look up at the Colonel, her eyes beaming with curiosity. "Hey Mark, can I talk to you later? I have work I have to finish."

She hung up her phone and smiled at the Colonel, and their eyes met. They took in each other's casual stance for a split second, until Carter spoke.

"Hello Colonel, is there something you need?"

"Nothing serious, I just wanted to make sure the team was still on for tomorrow night."

"Unless there's been a change of plans, yes, we're still on for tomorrow night."

"So, uh,..." Jack stuttered. "Are Cassie and Janet coming?" He asked.

"Janet said they had a few errands to run, but they would be there as soon as they were finished."

"Good, good..." Jack paused. He never had this much trouble talking to Carter. However, he had to admit, he had used Janet and Cas' invitation as an excuse to visit the Major's lab. But now, his time was up, and he'd have to leave to catch up with Teal'c.

"Look Carter, I gotta go. Good luck with the project."

"See you later, Sir."

"See ya," as Jack began to walk off, Major Carter giggled.

"What?" He asked, turning back to face her.

"Um, Sir, you've got mustard on your shirt."

Major Carter decided to go home after the Colonel's visit, to the new house that SG-1 had helped her pick out. It was in a decent sized neighborhood, not far from Cheyenne Mountain. She knew that if her teammates were coming over, she would have to go to the store and pick up drinks and snacks; her house was somewhat vacant of both at the moment.

She was excited that she would get to see the new bowling alley tomorrow night, and glad to invite the team to her house. Many times she realized that she was lonely in the house, all by herself, but she always pushed the thought away. Tomorrow would also be the first time Cassandra got to see the house, and she knew the teenage girl would enjoy being with SG-1.

Sam hoped to pick a movie for tomorrow night as well, something that didn't have romance, violence, or sci-fi. Perhaps a comedy would do. All in all, she hoped this week would turn out to be fun, something that SG-1 needed.

 **EDIT: I'm working on editing these chapters, although it's going slowly. It's weird to think that at the time, 400 word chapters were the norm for me. Ah well, maybe I'll get to fix that later on!**


	3. Daniel Doesn't Bowl

"I said I would come but I never agreed to actually bowl..."

"Oh come on, Daniel, its bowling! Even kids do it!"

Jack and Teal'c stood outside beside Daniel's car, trying to convince him to play along. They were waiting on the girls, and although Daniel had promised to come, he was reluctant to actually play the game.

Suddenly, Janet's car rolled up, revealing the three smiling women inside. Jack's eyes fixed on Carter's body, her blonde hair blowing in the wind.

"What took you so long?" Jack asked teasingly.

"Oh, you know how women are," Janet responded, winking her right eye. Carter blushed and turned towards Janet, suddenly aware of Jack's watchful eye.

"Are we ready?" She asked. Janet nodded. The group then walked into the small building, SG-1 taking the lead.

"If you don't want to bowl, you can play pool." Sam volunteered, biting her lip. Daniel nodded reluctantly, and grabbed a pool stick. Sam went first, lining up her shot to hit the balls that were bunched together in a triangle. She hit the cue ball and it skipped wildly across the table, flying through the air and hitting Daniel in the face.

"Daniel are you ok?!" Sam asked, examining her friend's nose.

The young man took off his glasses and rubbed his face. "I'll be fine," he replied, glancing over at Jack, who held a bowling ball in his hand. "I guess I'm going to go bowl..."

Sam's cheeks flushed with embarrassment as Daniel walked towards the rest of the group.

Daniel was supposed to take his turn right after Sam and Janet, however, he had been messing around with one of Jack's bowling balls, rolling it in the ball dispenser and and lifting it to test it's weight.

He tried to pull his fingers out of the bowling ball, only to find them stuck. When he was finally able to pull them out, they were all red and it hurt to bend them. "Hey Daniel!"

Daniel looked up to see Jack calling to him. "You going?"

"Sorry," he replied, letting go of the ball with a mighty swing. He let go of it too early and it flew backwards, making a really loud thunk. He received stares from other bowlers in the alley, which embarrassed him even more. As he picked up his bowling ball one more time, he finally took his turn, sending his ball into the next alley over.

Janet and Sam went for a drink, to allow the other bowlers some space, and to get some time to themselves. Janet watched as Cassandra bowled, smiling after scoring a strike. As they sat, talking over their bowl of nachos, they watched Daniel take his second turn. "Well, at least no one's gotten hurt...yet," Sam bit her lip as she spoke.

Janet grinned at Sam's remark. "It's a relief to not be mending any broken bones, or patching up staff blast wounds, or..." When Janet spoke, they heard a shout. They turned to see Daniel, who had dropped the big, blue bowling ball on his left foot.

 **Hey guys! I wanted this chapter to be amusing, not that I have anything against Daniel. I hope you guys enjoy! Poor Daniel? ﾟﾘﾕ** **? ﾟﾘﾂ** **? ﾟﾘﾂ**


	4. Missing

It was a normal day at Stargate Command; well, about as normal as it could be. The four teammates were being sent on a mission to extract information from a rather primitive culture. Jack wasn't sure what made it so important to him, but Daniel was the first one to be in the Gateroom, and the young man was nearly bouncing with joy. The Colonel's main concern, however, was that Teal'c was already on the planet waiting for them.

"The M.A.L.P. showed a few images of the pillars on PH7-129. It looks like there may be some ancient dialect written on them," he explained, talking too fast for Jack to keep up.

Jack showed hardly any emotion on the outside, but on the inside, he was laughing at Daniel's eagerness to leave. "You'd better not get too excited," Jack reminded, "Carter said that there seems to be some sort of-problem-in the atmosphere on PX3-whatever, and she's gotta check it out before we leave."

Then, it hit him. Sam was normally the first one in the Gateroom, and it was already twenty minutes after they were supposed to have left. Where could she be?

"Jack, are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

The older man nodded. "Carter should've been here by now-"

General Hammond's questioning voice cut Jack off. "Colonel, what's the hold-up?" He asked impatiently.

Jack turned himself around to where he could see the General properly. "Sir, we seem to have a bit of a problem. Carter was supposed to be here twenty minutes ago." General Hammond looked worried.

"We'll find her, Colonel." He promised.

As soon as the mission was cancelled and the Stargate was shut down, Jack and Daniel were out of the Gateroom, and into the lab, looking for the lost Major Carter. They had hoped that maybe she had just fallen asleep while working on some new device, but when they got there, the lab was empty.

The two men stood there, contemplating their next move, when an airman passed by, asking if they had seen Carter. "No, she's not here," Daniel replied, and the young man disappeared with no explaination.

"If Sam's not here, where would she go?" Daniel wondered aloud as he and Jack walked down one of the many corridors of the SGC.

"I don't know, let's check the commissary and make sure she's not catching a bite to eat," the Colonel replied, although he doubted that Sam would miss a mission for food. "Maybe we'll find her there."

The two men found, on various occasions, that they were not the only one's looking for the Major. Janet had joined the search as well, and had come up with nothing. "Have either of you heard from Major Carter recently?"

"She was here just yesterday, after the run-in with the Goa'uld on PJ6-948. She showered in the locker room, then left."

"Did anything- happen -yesterday?" Janet asked.

Daniel shook his head. "She seemed fine."

"She has to be here somewhere, I just don't know where else to check."

"Have you checked her quarters?" Daniel asked. Janet had a slight moment of realization, then darted away to look for her friend. When she got there, however, she found an empty bed, and no Major to be found. When she stepped out, Jack and Daniel were waiting for her, inquiring about Sam.

"She's not there."

Daniel remained silent for a moment, then concluded, "If she was on the base, someone would've had to have found her by now."

"Maybe...she's still at home?" Janet glanced at Jack, who had remained silent for some time.

"You stay here," he ordered, "Daniel and I will go check on her. If we don't find her there, we can assume it's an emergency."

Sam's house was still a good ways away from the based, but Jack knew that if he drove fast enough, they could get there in a small amount of time. Daniel tried climbing into the driver's side of the vehicle, but Jack wouldn't let him. Daniel understood the Colonel's worry, and climbed in the passenger's seat, buckling his seat belt as Jack sped out of the lot. "Do you have to go so fast? I'm sure she's fine." Daniel tried to reassure him.

"Daniel, if Carter didn't come to work, something's wrong." He reasoned, pushing his foot down harder and harder on the gas pedal.

"I know that, but we're not going to help her by getting a speeding ticket," He said, smiling a little.

Jack slammed on the breaks, slowing the vehicle down and giving the two men a sudden jolt. "You're right." He admitted.

Daniel laid back, and didn't say a word. Jack kept driving, all the while hoping that Carter had just slept in. "I know that you care about her," Daniel finally replied in a low mumble.

"So?"

"So...she needs to know that. I've seen how you've been today. You're worried sick."

"And?"

"She needs to know that you- love- her." Daniel said, not quite choosing his words careful enough.

"She knows that," He replied, becoming quite tense.

"Does she?" Daniel countered.

Jack never responded. They pulled into Carter's driveway, finding that her car was still there and her house remained untouched. When Jack knocked on the door, nobody answered, so Daniel just let them in. At first the Colonel thought it was weird that they invited themselves, but Daniel seemed to be okay with it. Besides, the two were like brother and sister. If anything happened to Sam, Daniel would surely know about it.

They found that the house was rather untidy, which was unusual for Carter. The woman was a little bit of a neat freak, (at least, to Jack she was) and always kept the house tidy and clean. Instead, they found that the television had been left on, and Looney Toons was playing at a low volume. There was a slice of pizza left on a plate on the coffee table, and a few cups sat at various locations around the house. A robe and a pair of slippers lay near the couch, but the two men still didn't see Carter.

It was then that Jack cracked open the Major's bedroom door. The light was turned off, and there was a lump in the bed. Daniel stepped behind him, whispering as low as he could, "So that's where she's been all day."

As the two stepped closer, Jack noticed that her breathing was steady, but sounded rough. He just barely touched her forehead, checking to make sure she wasn't dangerously sick. "Probably just a cold," He muttered thankfully.

"We should leave her, she'll probably call when she wakes up." Daniel stepped out of the room, but Jack stayed for a moment, watching her. She was curled up in a little ball under the covers, only the top half of her face visible as she slept. He touched her forehead again, one more time, just to be sure before he walked from the room, leaving the tired Major to rest.


End file.
